[3 recipes] Grilled Seafood Platter, Roast Chicken with Bacon plus Beerfest Asia 2014

[Quick Lunch] Seafood Platter

There are times when we just don't feel like cooking in the kitchen especially during hot summer days where we could even sweat rapidly just by doing some simple ingredients preparation like cutting or chopping.  In this post, I will be sharing 3 amazing hassle free recipes which you can get ready two of the seafood dish in less than 15 minutes . Or with a quick preparation of 10 minutes and off it goes into the oven for the rest of the baking time while you can relax at the couch enjoying your favourite drama.

Beside the recipes, I would also like to share our views on some tasting beers that I received from the organizer of this year Beerfest Asia 2014 to go with the prepared dishes too.

Our Thanksgiving Feast - Roast Chicken With Cranberry And Macadamia Stuffing plus Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is a time of the year where everyone in the family to get together to have meal and give grateful for things like family, friends, food and etc. To be frank this is my first year preparing Thanksgiving feast for the family and instead of the usual baked “turkey” I decided to swap with something smaller. So for this year, I prepared Roast Chicken with Cranberry and Macadamia Stuffing together with medley of colourful vegetables. And I also made our all-time favourite Pumpkin Pie with buttery crust for dessert.

I am thankful that this feast was able to complete and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner as planned. It was because during the preparation (if you have read about the mishap (here) on my Instagram (@cuisineparadise)) my old build-in oven (12 years) actually fused off while I was preheating it for the bakes. But thanks God with my Samsung microwave convection oven I am still able to prepare the dishes with slight changes or else I won't be able to know what to do. 

Recipes Using Samsung Smart Oven (MC32F606) - Part I

I have been using my microwave and built-in oven to help me with my daily food preparations for the past 10 years. And just recently, I received a new Samsung Smart Oven from Samsung that comes with Microwave, Convection, as well as Slim Fry features. On top of that, it also has a range of pre-set smart features such as sensor technology, high-quality cooking performance and a sleek aesthetic, all designed to provide convenience for busy households.

[Recipe] Roasted Lemon And Herbs Chicken with Wine

I always love comfort food like this during "cold" weather; especially winter. It is so easy to prepare by just assembling all the ingredients together on baking dish, pop them into the oven and by an hour or so everything will be ready. So all you need to do, is prepare some salad, couscous or coleslaw to go with it for a hearty weekday meal.

Grilled Chicken With Lemongrass and Basil Leaves

Here is another quick and easy Happy Call Pan (HCP) dish which is inspired by one of my friend, Jaiyi through her instagram photo(HERE). We all loved this "Grilled Chicken with Lemongrass And Basil Leave" where the chicken meat is so tender and infused with the unique aroma of the lemongrass and Thai basil. But if you can't get hold of Thai Basil, free feel to replace it with Parsley which is originally used in Jaiyi's recipe.

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH LEMONGRASS AND BASIL LEAVES

As for those who don't have a HCP, you can always bake this dish using an Oven which you might perhaps need to roast it for a longer timing in order to get it cook. Or if you prefer easy cooking, you can also replace whole chicken with parts such as mid-joint, drumsticks or etc depending on your preference too.

(Serves: 4   | Preparation: 10 minutes   |  Marinate: 2 hours  |  Cooking: 30 - 35 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Chicken (1.2kg), portion into halved without cutting through
2 Stalks Of Lemongrass, lightly pound and sliced
1/2 Tablespoon of Black Peppercorns, crashed
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
3/4 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoon Cooking Wine (Hua Diao Jiu)
Handful of Thai Bail, roughly chopped
3 Stalks Lemongrass, cut into sections

Method:-

1. Clean and rinse the chicken, pat dry with kitchen paper towel and rub the salt all over the chicken together with the mixture of oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and cooking wine.

2. Next stuff 3/4 of the lemongrass and basil mixture in the chicken cavity(refer to the photo above) and tie it up using a baking string(you can find it in daiso or baking shop).

3. Sprinkler some crashed black peppercorns on the chicken and top with remaining lemongrass mixture. Marinate the chicken in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight to get the flavour through the meat.

4. Place extra lemongrass and chicken (remove the string and lay it flat, skin side up) in the Happy Call Pan (HCP), cook over medium heat (LOCK) for about 15 minutes, flip the pan over and cook for another 10 - 12 minutes.

5. Flip the pan back. Unlock and cook for another 8 - 10 minutes to get a nice golden crispy outer skin. (total cooking time might varies depending on the size of the chicken)

So if you or your family loves chicken dishes, this might be something quick and easy which you would like to consider whipping up over the weekend and share some family time by having simple homecook dishes together.

Buttermilk Cereal Chicken

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Some of you might notice that I have being "working hard" on my experiments(more recipes HERE) with the Happy Call Pressure Pan(HCP). By the look of the photo above, could you believe those golden and crispy drumlets are NEITHER deep-fried or oven baked!

Yes, for your information these yummy Buttermilk Cereal Chicken is done using HCP without deep-frying or bake. With just minimum amount of oil to grease the pan, you would be able to prepare more healthy and delicious food for the family. In this post, I would be sharing the recipe for this Buttermilk Cereal Chicken using HCP and Oven.

Above shows the comparison of Buttermilk Cereal Chicken done using Happy Call Pressure Pan (HCP) via  Oven Toaster base on the recipes shown below.

BUTTERMILK CEREAL CHICKEN

(Using Happy Call Pan Method)

Look at these golden drumlets with yummy cornflakes coating, isn't it make you crave for some upon looking at it now? These super easy finger food would be something worth trying during weekend if you have some "stock-up" cornflakes in the pantry. And I assure you this definitely taste better than those deep-fried chicken from those fastfood restaurants.

(serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
6 Chicken Drumlets
1.5 Cups Cornflakes
1 Teaspoons Ground Paprika
1 Teaspoons Grated Lemon Rind
Pinch of Salt
1/4 Cup Plain Flour
3/4 Cup Buttermilk
Olive Oil Cooking Spray
Some Salad Greens, to serve

Method:-

1. Using your hands gently crush cornflakes into crumbs, add in paprika, lemon rinds, pepper, salt and stir until well combined.

2. Place flour and buttermilk in separate shallow dishes. Coat chicken drumlets one at a time with flour, shaking off excess before dipping in buttermilk.

4. While the drumlets are still moist (this will enable the cornflake crumbs to cling), coat it one at time in cornflakes mixture, pressing on with fingertips to secure the crumbs.

5. Place drumlets on preheated HCP (light brush the pan with cooking oil and preheat on low heat for 30 seconds) with pan lock and cook over very low heat for 5 minutes before flipping the pan over for another 5 minutes.

6. Rotate the pan a few times (cook about 20 minutes) or until golden and cooked through (leave the pan unlock for the last 5 minutes to achieve crispy outer skin). Serve with some salad greens.

Tip:-

- If you have time, marinate the chicken with some extra Ground Paprika(1 teaspoon), lemon rind and 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice for about 30 minutes.

~ You can cut a slit on the drumlets to enable the meat to cook faster.

BUTTERMILK CEREAL CHICKEN

(Oven Baked Method)

For those who don't own a Happy Call Pressure Pan, you could also try out this recipe using either Oven Toaster or normal Oven and the end-result is equally good. Just for a note, the outer skin of the chicken will remain crispy for an hour or so if use Oven baked compare to HCP which need to be consume as soon as possible.

(serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
6 Chicken Mid-joint
1.5 Cups Cornflakes
1 Teaspoons Ground Paprika
1 Teaspoons Grated Lemon Rind
1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Pinch of Salt
1/4 Cup Plain Flour
3/4 Cup Buttermilk
Olive Oil Cooking Spray
Some Salad Greens, to serve

Method:-

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

2. Using your hands gently crush cornflakes into crumbs, add in paprika, lemon rinds, pepper, salt and stir until well combined. Set aside.

3. Place flour and buttermilk in separate shallow dishes. Coat mid-joints one at a time with flour, shaking off excess before dipping in buttermilk.

4. While the mid-joints are still moist (this will enable the cornflake crumbs to cling), coat it one at time in cornflakes mixture, pressing on with fingertips to secure the crumbs.

5. Place mid-joint prepared tray and lightly spray/brush with cooking oil.

6. Roast for 30 minutes(turning twice) or until golden and cooked through. Serve with some salad greens.

My family loves this crispy buttermilk chicken which is so flavorsome with it's tasty, tender and juicy meat together with the crispy and hint of spiciness on the outer skin. This is sure a good finger food to be serve during parties which goes well with sparking wine or beer.

Roast Chicken with Portuguese Seasoning for Christmas

Christmas is just 5 days down the road and everyone is busying preparing Christmas menu and bakes for the coming festive gatherings. This year Christmas is early for us as I have prepared a hearty Roast Chicken with Portuguese Seasoning together with some roasted vegetables for a hearty family meal.

My mum was excited while preparing this dish together with me in the kitchen as this is her first hands-on roasting dish. And she was surprised that it was actually so easy to get everything done within less than 10 minutes and just pop it into the oven and we could enjoy the yummy roast after 2 hours time.

Last two week my brother has bought back some of my favourite MasterFood Herbs and Spices during his holiday trip to Sydney. And these will come in handy for me to prepare some quick and hearty meal within short time. For this post I would be using Portuguese Chicken Seasoning which brings together the flavours of lemon and chillies to create traditional Portuguese Chicken at home and this sure come perfect during Christmas season.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH PORTUGUESE SEASONING

Nothing beats a Hearty Roast like this during Christmas season while you could enjoy quality time with family and friends and at the same time do away with a fuss free cooking hassle in the kitchen.

These are the 3 types of MasterFoods seasoning and herbs using in this recipe but you could always choice to use your desire brand of similar products.

(serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 1 Hour 30 minutes)
Ingredients:
1.2 - 1.4kg Whole Chicken
1 Tablespoon MasterFoods Portuguese Seasoning
1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Side Dish:
2 Medium Potato, peeled and cubes
300g Pumpkin, washed and cubes
1/2 Teaspoon MasterFoods Chilli Flakes
1 Teaspoon MasterFoods Italian Herbs
1/2 Teaspoon Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon of Soft Butter

Method:-

1. Trim the extra fats, emptied and cleaned the cavity, removed the head, neck and feet. Rinse and pat dry using kitchen paper towel.

2. Place chicken in a big bowl, brush olive oil evenly around the chicken before rubbing the Portuguese Seasoning all over the chicken include the cavity of the chicken and under the skin layers.

3. Sprinkle with salt and set aside in the roasting tray while preparing the side dish.

4. Mixed potato cubes and pumpkin together with the remaining ingredients(except butter) in a bowl and toss till well combined.

5. Stuffed some pumpkin cubes into the cavity and tie both kegs together with unwaxed kitchen string(can be found in Daiso outlets) and arrange the remaining vegetable mix at the side of the baking dish and top with dots of butter.(refer to the 6th photo above)

6. Place the chicken in preheated 180°C fan-forced oven and roast for about 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours or until juice run clear when thickest part of chicken is pierced with a skewer.

7. To get an nice even colour for the roast, turn the chicken around after 30 minuets interval during the baking time or basting chicken frequently with pan juice.

8. When done remove chicken from oven, cover it loosely with foil and stand for 10 minutes before serving it with steamed rice, pasta, or salad green.

This is my boy's portion of the roast chicken drumstick together with some roasted vegetables and steamed rice. Although we had added chilli flakes to the roasted vegetable but the taste was still mild as the sweetness of the pumpkin have yet blend in well with the seasonings.

Indeed this is a very simple and hearty meal which you could prepared anytime of the year even if it is not during Christmas. Here is another link of the roast chicken which I have prepared during last year's Christmas, Roasted Chicken With Brown Rice And Chestnut Stuffing.

YULE CHOCOLATE LOG

This year Christmas I have baked a Yule Chocolate Log which is something different from the previous years whereby we only had Gingerbread man, Christmas Cupcake and Fruit Cakes. This Yule Log is made with simple chocolate swiss roll recipe which used only flour, egg and sugar.

Do stay tune for the upcoming recipe soon. Cheers and enjoy the Christmas Roast!!!!

{Prego Pasta Sauce} Deliciously Thick & Rich

These are my 2nd batch of recipe booklets with Campbell's featuring FOUR of their Prego Pasta Sauce apart from the 1st batch using Swanson Clear Chicken Broth(read more HERE). And our aim for these recipes is provide consumers with some quick and fuss free idea to whip up festive dishes for coming Christmas of New Year family meals or gatherings.

These recipe booklets consists of 4 recipes using 2 white and 2 red sauces from Prego Pasta Sauce range. You could find these recipe booklets available in major supermarkets such as FairPrice, Cold Storage island wide. And here I would like to share 2 of the complimentary recipes from the booklet with those who are interested to try it with the Prego pasta sauce.

CHEESY CHICKEN DUMPLINGS

This Cheesy Chicken Dumplings is a fusion of Asian Dumpling with Italian Alfredo sauce to cook up something similar to Ravioli. Instead of using egg pasta dough for the dumplings, I have replaced it with Chinese round dumpling wrappers filled with minced chicken meat mixtures.

As this could be a rich dish due to the cheesy Alfredo sauce I would recommend it to be served together with some fresh salad greens to balance the taste. And for some nutty flavour, you could also scatter some toasted pine nuts on top of the prepared dumplings before serving.

(serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Bottle 350g Prego Cheesy Alfredo
20 Round Dumpling Wrappers
150g Mince Chicken Meat
20g Carrot, finely chopped/grated
2 Shallots, finely chopped
3 Fresh Water Chestnut, finely chopped
1/2 Tablespoon Chopped Parsley

Marinade:
1/2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Cornflour
2 Cloves Garlic, slice thinly

Garnish:
Freshly Grind Black Pepper
Dried Chili Flakes, optional

Method:-

1. Marinate mince chicken, carrot, shallot, water chestnut and parsley together with marinade for at least 10 minutes.

2. Wrap each dumpling wrapper with 1/2 tablespoon of mince meat mixture by wetting the edge of the wrapper with some water and fold it into half.

3. Cook the dumplings in a medium pot filled with boiling water and 1/2 teaspoon of oil.

4. Once the dumplings float on the surface, lower the heat and continue to simmer for another 1 minute. Remove, rinse with tap water and drain well.

5. Heat up 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a pan, sauté garlic slices until golden brown remove and set aside. Pour in Prego Cheesy Alfredo, toss in cooked dumplings and simmer for 1 minute. Top with garnish and fried garlic slices. Serve immediately.

BAKED HAINANESE CHICKEN CHOP

If you love those Hong Kong style baked rice with red sauce that comes in either chicken, pork or seafood I am sure you would like this fusion version of Baked Hainanese Chicken Chop. You could replace the chicken chop with either pork or seafood and bake it together with rice or even spaghetti to create 1 dish with different versions.

The is a simple version where I use bottled tomato pasta sauce to replace our usual "Asian" seasoning and at the same time retain some of the ingredients like onion, pineapple, green peas and etc to create a fusion dish. To shorten the process you could also used frozen pork/chicken schnitzel which is available in the supermarkets too. 

(serves: 4 | Preparation: 20 minutes | Cooking: 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Bottle( 680g) Prego Traditional Sauce
2 Chicken Breast Meat/ 4 Chicken Fillets
1.5 Cup Dried Bread Crumbs
Oil For Shallow Frying
2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
2 Medium Onion, cut into wedges
150g Green Peas
2 Medium Tomato, cut into wedges
2 Slices Pineapple, cut into cubes
1 Cup Shredded Tasty Cheese

Marinade:
2 Teaspoons Sesame Oil
2 Teaspoons Cooking Wine
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
½ Teaspoon Ground Pepper
1 Tablespoon Cornflour
1 Large Egg

Method:-

1. Tenderise the chicken by flatten it with a meat mallet or the back of the knife for easy cooking before marinate it for least 10 minutes.

2. Pour cooking oil into a frying pan till about 1cm in depth and heat it up. At the meantime roll the marinated chicken fillet in breadcrumbs, pressing firmly.

3. Cooked chicken fillet for 2 - 3 minutes on each side until golden brown or cooked through on medium low heat. (do not use high heat or it will burnt the breadcrumbs)

4. Drain on absorbent paper, cut into 1cm thick slices and set aside.

5. Sauté onion till soft add in green peas and cook for 30 seconds before stirring in Prego Traditional Sauce, tomato and pineapple, simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Arrange chicken schnitzel on top of the cooked pasta or rice in a baking dish, top with pasta sauce mixture and shredded tasty cheese.

7. Bake in pre-heated 200 degree oven for 5 minutes until cheese turns golden brown. Serve.

Lastly hope you would like these 4 dishes that I have prepared using the Prego Pasta Sauce for this coming festive season. And for your information, there is also a "Holiday Giveaways With Campbell's" promotion where consumers could spent S$6.00 to quality for the festive draw to win travel vouchers up to S$3,000. Details can be found HERE or at major participating supermarkets. Cheers and have a great week everyone!

{GO GREEN} Basil, Chilli and Garlic Spaghetti, Pistachio Crumbed Chicken plus Avocado Milkshake

Now till end of December 2011 is our annual end year school holidays where most of the kids get to enjoy a long holiday break before the new school term starts in 2012. Since we often had late breakfast during this period of time, I would cook something rather simple, fast and in small portion just enough to fill our stomach till tea-break or dinner.

Here we have some really quick to prepare spaghetti with nutty oven baked pistachio chicken plus a cup of smooth and creamy avocado milkshake for our brunch.

Crisp Duck with Apple & Orange Sauce serve with Rosemary & Garlic Flatbread

I have hardly use DUCK meat as one of my ingredient while planning for our daily meals. I guess the only dish that I known how to cook by using whole/portion duck is to make "Braised Duck with Dark Soya Sauce" which is a well-like dish in most Asia families. Not long ago, I have read up a recipe and post from Jacob over at Cook.Snap.Eat.Love where he takes the effort and time to prepare Duck Confit as a main course to host a few food bloggers on a tasting session(read more HERE).

After going through Jacob's recipe plus some others similar recipes online, I find making Duck Confit was rather complicated and time consuming for my standard as a home cook. So after much consideration, I think I better settle for something easier which I could managed and keep that big project aside for the time being.

CRISP DUCK WITH APPLE AND ORANGE SAUCE

This is a pretty easy dish with minimum preparation but comes with delicious combination of savory crisp duck, crunchy fresh apple plus salad greens swam in pool of aromatic spiced orange sauce. Personally I love the sweet and tangy taste of the orange sauce which really goes well with the whole combination and especially on the crisp duck.

Here I used half portion of the duck(which included the duck breast fillet and drumstick) instead of two duck fillets because I have left over from the previous dish on braised soya duck. If you are getting the duck from the wet market poultry stalls, you could also ask them to help you de-bone the fillet which would be easier for you.

(serves: 2 | Preparation: 30 minutes | Cooking: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Duck Fillets, skin on
1/2 Tablespoon Sea Salt
Dash of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Red Delicious Apple, sliced thinly
2 Servings of Salad Greens

Method:-

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place a wire rack over a foil-lined baking tray.

2. Make shallow incisions diagonally across skin of duck apart 1cm apart, rub sea salt into skin.

3. Place a non-stick frying pan on medium heat, add duck, skin-side down and cook for 8 minutes until skin is crispy.

4. Transfer to wire rack, skin-side up and bake for 12 - 15 minutes until tender. Remove from oven and stand on wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing it.

5. Using a vegetable slicer or knife, sliced the apple thinly and place it on the duck slices on prepared plates.

6. Drizzle some orange sauce on the apple and duck mixture, top with some salad greens and homemade rosemary and garlic flatbread on the side and serve warm with extra orange sauce.

Orange Sauce:

2 Tablespoons Orange Marmalade
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
Zest of 1 Orange
125ml of Orange Juice
60ml Cup Water
2 Star Anise

Method:-

1. Place orange marmalade, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, star anise and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved.

2. Simmer for 8 - 10 minutes, until sauce reduced and sightly thickened. Strain and serve warm.

ROSEMARY AND GARLIC FLATBREAD

A flatbread is a simple bread made with flour, water, salt and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened which is made without using yeast or sourdough culture similar to the recipe shown below. And in order to make the above crisp duck salad more filling, I decided to pair it with some homemade Rosemary and Garlic Flatbread which could be used to wrap up the crisp duck salad.

Recipe adapted and modify from Australia Masterchef website HERE.

(serves: 2 | Preparation: 30 minutes | Cooking: 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
125g Plain Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
65ml(1/4 cup) Lukewarm Water
1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Fresh Rosemary
Extra Flour, dusting
2 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Method:-

1. Combine olive oil and lukewarm water in a jug.

2. Process flour, salt and rosemary in a food processor or alternatively place them in a large mixing bowl.

3. Slowly add olive oil and water mixture to the flour to form a dough.

4. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead until smooth. Rest dough for at least 30 minutes

5. Divide dough into 6 dough balls, roll out flat and fry(without oil) for 2 minutes each side or until golden.

6. Brush with melted butter. Keep warm and serve together with the Crisp Duck salad above.

Other than making your own flatbread from scratch you could also purchase those ready-made "Wraps/Tortilla " which are available in most leading supermarkets. I am sure you would like this dish as much as I do, and if duck fillets are not available in your area or liking you could always replace it with chicken fillets. And furthermore if you could get hold of kumquat marmalade I am it would add extra and unique flavour to this dish too. Enjoy!

Avocado Chicken Parmigiana

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Parmigiana (a short form of Parmigiana di melanzane) is a Southern Italian dish made with a shallow-fried sliced filling, layered with cheese, tomato sauce and baked before serving. But here we are making a quick version of this "Avocado Chicken Parmigiana" where tender chicken breast schnitzel is topped with bottled tomato pasta sauce and fresh avocado together with generous amount of grated Mozzarella cheese.

Almond Crumbed Chicken Schnitzel with Potato Salad and Caramel Asparagus

One of my friend Alice has set up a weekly cooking theme on facebook for those who loves to cook to share their dishes base on the weekly specify ingredient. And for this week we have "Asparagus" as the key ingredient to challenge our cooking skill on how we incorporate it into our dish. Since Asparagus is one of my favourite ingredients I decided to give it a try and come out with this set of Quick and Easy Western Dish.

Asparagus is high in vitamins B6 and C plus fiber, folate and glutathione as well as with anti-carcinogen and antioxidant. Although asparagus comes in three different colours such as: white, green or purple but the the green variety is the most common to be found. You can eat asparagus with nothing more than a drizzle of good-quality olive oil or use them in different dishes like: in soups, salads, stir-fries, scrambled eggs, pasta and etc.(read more HERE)

Here we have two side dishes to go with the Almond Crumbed Chicken Schnitzel which are the quick and easy boiled potato salad plus Caramel Asparagus. The potatoes act as a source of Carbo intake the accompany Asparagus are crisp and flavoursome with the dressing.

POTATO SALAD
Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
4 Medium Size Potatoes, about 250g
1.5 Tablespoon of Mayonnaise Cream
Freshly Ground Black Pepper


CARAMEL OLIVE ASPARAGUS
Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
1 Bundle of Baby Asparagus
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Brown Sugar

Method:-

1. Cook potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 15 minutes or until tender.

2. Drain. Cool. Peel and cut the cooked potatoes into chunks and place it in a large bowl.

3. Scoop mayonnaise onto potatoes, season with salt and pepper then toss using a chopsticks to combine.

4. Set aside in the fridge while preparing the chicken schnitzel.

Method:-

1. Cook asparagus in a frying pan filled with boiling water(with 1/4 Teaspoon of salt added) for about 1 - 2 minutes until tender but still bright green.

2. Drain and refresh in cold water. Set aside.

3. Using the same frying pan, pour away the water, dried it and preheat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

4. Next add in 1/2 Tablespoon of brown sugar and stir continuously till almost caramelize.

5. Remove and dress asparagus with olive oil dressing.

The crispy crumbs coating together with the nutty fragrance from the flaked almond makes it a very addicting finger food/appetiser to go with icy cold beer too.

ALMOND CRUMBED CHICKEN SCHNITZEL
Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
6 - 8 Pieces of Chicken Fillets
1 Egg
1 Cup Breadcrumbs
1/4 Cup Flaked Almonds
Oil for Shallow Frying

Seasonings:
1 Teaspoon cornflour
1/4 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/4 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
Dash of Pepper

Method:-

1. Marinate chicken fillets with seasonings and egg and set aside for about 5 minutes.

2. Pour cooking oil into a frying pan till about 1cm in depth and heat it up.

3. At the meantime roll the marinated chicken in breadcrumbs which combined with flaked almonds, pressing firmly.

4. Cooked chicken for 2 - 3 minutes on each side until golden brown or cooked through on medium low heat. (do not use high heat or it will burnt the breadcrumbs and almonds)

5. Drain on absorbent paper and serve with prepared side dishes.